We Congratulate Attica Scott On Being Selected As Louisville Metro Council's Newest Member, To Replace Expelled Judy Green.

Attica Scott selected to replace Judy Green on metro council

Attica Woodson Scott, a 39-year-old community organizer with a 15-year career working on social justice issues, was elected Thursday night as the newest member of the Louisville Metro Council.

Scott, one of 13 candidates for the open District 1 seat, replaces Judy Green who was expelled from the council last month by a unanimous vote of her council colleagues.

Scott will represent the district for at least a year, until the public gets a say in picking a council member in the primary and general elections of 2012. She was elected by an 18-7 vote of the metro council.

The only other candidate nominated for the seat was attorney Courtney Phelps.

Scott currently works as a coordinator for Kentucky Jobs With Justice, where she has worked on healthcare, economic justice issues, immigrant rights and workers rights.

After being elected, Scott said she feels a need to live up to “higher expectations” in office as a result of Green being expelled for unethical behavior and financial misappropriations.

“I’m deeply honored and humbled and I look forward to being here (Friday) morning to get to work,” she said.

But before Scott was elected, councilwoman Mary Woolridge said that the system was rigged in Scott’s favor. Woolridge, a western Louisville Democrat, called the election process “tainted” because, she said, there were “back-door meetings before this process even started” and an agreement to elect Scott.

Woolridge said that the state General Assembly should change the merger law so that residents fill future vacancies — a sentiment with which several council members agreed.

“When you provide a resume to a prospective employer, you expect the playing field to be level,” Woolridge said. “A person was selected before we even received your resumes.”

“That’s not the case,” said Democrat Brent Ackerson, who nominated Scott, saying he did so because she has spent years working with the council on issues and working with the public. “I’m taken aback by this” allegation.

So was Phelps. who called the allegation “beyond interesting” and said that community leaders also told him that Scott was predetermined.

From the moment I began talking to community leaders, that was the sentiment,” said Phelps, who added that he is “strongly considering” a run at the office next year. “I’m very disappointed,” he said.

Scott said she knew nothing of any backroom deal, if there was one.

“I’m an organizer and I did what an organizer does — reach out to people,” Scott said. “I took the initiative and talked to people on both sides of the aisle. I can’t speak to what other people did.”

Council President Jim King said he has “no idea what (Woolridge) was talking about.”

Thursday’s vote was much smoother — and shorter — than the process the council went through in replacing the late George Unseld with Deonte Hollowell, an independent.

The council went through more than 30 rounds of voting before settling on Hollowell, who lost to Democrat David James in last November’s general election.

Scott was endorsed by the political action committee of the Fairness Campaign, which last year gave her an endorsement in her campaign for the Jefferson County Public Schools Board of Education.

"Ms. Scott possesses an unwavering and long-standing record of devotion to issues pertaining to organized labor and fairness," said Nick Wilkerson, a committee official.

"That record, paired with her clear social justice stances built upon an understanding of the inherent intersections of all forms of oppression, makes her uniquely suited to represent all Louisville's 1st District residents."